#Meteorology Q: On a day like this with extensive cirrus but lots of blue sky & bright sunshine, would this sky still be classed as 7 or 8 oktas cloud cover? Would a blue sky completely covered with a barely perceptible layer of cirrostratus be classed as 8 oktas?

Crossposted with @openvibe

Jul 5, 2026, 20:12 UTCen

Replying to @wessexweather@mastodonapp.uk

@wessexweather @openvibe
Ok so I had to pursue this, and I went to the actual WMO manual (link below). The documentation does not explicitly say to ignore transparent cloud, and it DOES say to count all cloud.

So from this I would conclude that you do count oktas of transparent clouds.

Relevant paragraphs: 15.1.4.1 and 15.2.2

library.wmo.int/viewer/68695/